An autopsy done on the head of slain university student Rita Waeni Muendo showed she died out strangulation before she was decapitated.
Her head was decapitated, carried away from the primary murder scene and dumped at a dam in Kiambaa, Kiambu County.
Chief government pathologist Johansen Oduor conducted an autopsy on the head at the City Mortuary before announcing she had been strangled.
He said they however need further forensic DNA analysis on the body. The family of slain Waeni had Thursday identified a human head that had recovered from a dam as that of the woman.
This was made through her forehead, hair and teeth formation.
“The main findings were that the head had been chopped off from the neck at the level of C5 (vertebrae on the neck). There was bruising on the scalp caused by a blunt object. We also saw some fractures on bones,” said Oduor while addressing journalists.
“I can comfortably conclude that the cause of death was strangulation after which she was decapitated and her body dumped.”
The move gave pathologists led by chief Oduor the green light to conduct an autopsy of the head as part of efforts to establish how she died on January 13 at an apartment in Roysambu, Nairobi.
The exercise was conducted at the City Mortuary following an earlier one that had been done on other body parts.
The family had identified a blouse that had been found wrapped around the head when it was discovered at a dam in Kiambaa, Kiambu County.
Detectives suspect the killing of Waeni was part of an ongoing occultism in the country.
Read: Family of Slain Student Waeni Positively Identifies Her Severed Head at City Mortuary
Occultism is part of the leading causes of murder in the country and the investigation team said it’s part the theories they are investigating as a motive of the cold blood murder.
The dismembered body of Waeni was found in a dustbin at an apartment on TRM Drive, Kasarani but her head was missing.
The head was later found wrapped in a purple female blouse and then put in a green carrier bag with a stone in it.
Waeni’s family was first unable to identify her head last Monday at the City Mortuary. Her head had been recovered at the dam in Kiambu on Sunday, January 21.
An autopsy was earlier planned on the head Tuesday but was moved to Thursday.
This is after detectives from the homicide at DCI said they were not ready for the exercise.
The human head was found floating in Ite Dam at Kimuga village, Kimuga sub-location, Kiambaa location by locals.
On Sunday January 21, two Nigerians were arrested over the murder hours after the discovery of the head.
Read Also: Family of Slain Student Waeni Positively Identifies Her Severed Head at City Mortuary
A hatchet, butcher’s knife, a national identity card belonging to a to Omar Mwamkwaju Juma, six mobile phones, three laptops, 10 SIM cards from different telco service providers and other items were recovered at the house where the two suspects were living.
A court Monday allowed police to hold the Nigerians for eight days pending probe on their possible involvement in the murder.
The two were arrested in Ndenderu area, Kiambu County moments after a head of a woman was discovered at Ite Dam at Kimuga village in the area.
Police said the two Nigerians are William Ovie Opia whose passport is expired and Johnbull Asbor who did not have any travel documents at the time of his arrest.
Asbor told the detectives that he lost his passport two years ago.
The suspects were traced by the DCI detectives to an apartment in Ndenderu in Kiambu County where they were picked up on Sunday.
Police told the court they wanted adequate time to escort the suspects to the Government Chemist for extraction of their blood samples for DNA analysis and comparison against the samples that were extracted from the scene of crime.
They will be in custody until January 31.
Police said Opia bought a hatchet from an online vendor and he told investigators that he had bought it for self-defense.
It is not clear if the tool was used in the murder.
A postmortem conducted on the body on Friday January 19 showed she had missing fingernails.
